Wenger pleads for manager stability

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Premier League clubs are wrong to point a swift accusing finger at managers when they fail to achieve their targets.

Some 32 managerial changes have taken place at English top flight and Football League clubs this season, inspiring Wenger to suggest the brief period of time tacticians are being given to make their mark on a club is making the job tough to succeed in.

Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood is already under huge pressure just three months after taking over from Andre Villas-Boas at White Hart Lane, with Wenger offering his opposite number sympathy ahead of Sunday's North London derby.

"I am always pleading for stability," stated Wenger, who has seen 10 Spurs full-time managers come and go since his appointment in late September 1996.

"Maybe you could say I'm pleading for myself. I always think technical stability is important," said Wenger, "But it will become more and more difficult because in every single game there is a trial happening now on what has the manager done right and wrong. The stability will certainly be much more difficult."

While with Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has seen 10 Tottenham managers come and go.

"I don't know Sherwood as a coach. I knew him as a player because I am a long time in this job. He was a committed guy on the pitch and I like the fact that he has learned his job and gets his chance.

"In England you rightly complain that young managers don't get a chance. When you get one you have to support him."

Wenger accepts Sunday's game is vital for his side's fading title hopes, with a victory a necessity to stay in touch with leaders Chelsea after they opened up a lead at the top of the table.

Arsenal head into the game gripped by a midfield injury crisis as Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott will all miss the game at White Hart Lane, but Wenger is backing his squad to emerge victorious.

"We have the strength. There are moments in a game and there moments in a season where you have to be there," he added.

"With the season that we have in front of us now everyone game is a final for us. We are in a position where we can do well in the league, where we can do well in the FA Cup and that demands confidence and confidence is linked with results."